This time, Obama goes to the public

President Obama is enlisting the American public to help reach a deal on the fiscal cliff. Instead of waiting for a bill from Congress or meeting behind closed doors to hammer out a solution with lawmakers, he’s making his appeal to citizens.

The president is hosting business leaders at the White House for two straight days, and tomorrow he will speak alongside middle-class Americans who the White House says could see their taxes go up if Congress does not extend the Bush tax cuts for households making below $250,000. Friday, he hits the road and will speak at a manufacturing plant in Montgomery County, PA.

This is a striking contrast to the president’s strategy during the debt ceiling debate, and we know how that turned out: the “grand bargain” he tried to achieve with House Speaker John Boehner failed, and the country ended up with the sequesters that are now threatening to cause another recession. Will this approach–of selling his message to the public to build support and pressure Congress to act–yield a better result?